Serial # on the HDD might be registered as an external HDD with manufacturer. To open most of these cases you do permanent damage, so the HDD cannot be placed back into the case. Meaning you might have trouble with warranty claims.

Not sure if it applies to this model, but most HDD manufactures now have the USB port directly on the controller board for HDD, there is no longer any SATA connection on the HDD.
Makes it very hard to recover if enclosure fails.

I'm not doubting you here, but I have not seen that (yet). In both western digital and some seagate external drives (obviously not so much the "go flex"), the "USB to SATA controller" unit is physically attached (by screws in 3 or 4 places) to the drive, but this can be removed and you're left with a normal SATA drive. Again, I'm not claiming you're incorrect, but it's just not what I've seen when cracking these sorts of drives open.

I got one of the seagate DSE 2tb $99 deals a while back. Opened up the case and put the hdd in my pc. After 2 weeks the hdd died. I'm going to buy one of these but keep it in the case for warranty this time.

Does anyone know if the power adapter plug on external HDs from major brands are compatible with each other? ie, can I use the power plug from my Samsung Story Station and WD to power this Seagate drive?

There are two things you have to check, the electrical rating, and the plug type.

The plug pack should have something like 12V == —-Co—+ 1.5A (my best attempt at text rendition) which is saying that the output is 12V DC 1.5A max draw, and the centre of the plug is positive. If the other plug pack is the same, this condition is satisfied. Slight difference in max current is ok, but if quite different, use the higher powered one.

Secondly the size of the plug must be the same, of course.

I have successfully used a plug pack for WD for a Seagate, saving me one extension board socket. (They are not in continuous use, just for weekly backup.)

I'm pretty sure places like MSY and PCDIY only offer a one year replacement warranty on parts. After that you need to send the HDD yourself back to the manufacturer they won't personally handle the warranty claim… Please correct me if I am wrong.

I thought replacement was only for 7 days and that it was just a national law that retailers have to handle the warranty claim for the first year and after that it's a direct RMA with the distributor/manufacturer. (Replacement or not is dependent on the warranty that comes with the item isn't it?)

If anyone is interested, you can get the officeworks 'Lowest Price Guarantee' over the phone.

I just called them on 1300 OFFICE (633 423), and stated I wanted to redeem your lowest price guarantee. Then told them the product and then said JB have it on sale for $99. The woman then searched for a few minutes and then confirms I am correct. They then beat it by 5%, so I got it for $94.05 over the phone.

Also cool is that it will be delivered today and because it's over $50 it's got free delivery!

Saves me the effort of going to a store! I was however on hold for about 10 mins waiting for someone to answer, but that wasn't too bad an experience! :)

I remember one OzBargainer here bought five 3TB ones from JB-HiFI a while ago on the price of $158 for each. The guy at my local store at Fyshwick said he could price match Two of them for me on the same price. THEN, I found on the MSY website of this for $159:http://www.msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=8952.

Just bought one this morning. Not sure what rpm it is however now that I have it plugged into my pc via usb 3 - my max write speed from my pc's 7200 rpm hdd to the seagate hdd is only 50mb/s, i would have thought it to be faster.